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Mir Til CAKOLINA. 



'^Ilcr Wmims aiiil The KciikmIv. 



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RKM ARKS OF (OL. lUCllAHI) LMIIKHS, 

nELIVEHEI) AT TIIH or/.MNc; (»F TUi: TAXl'A VKIJS' ( ( >N VKNTloN, 

In Chlimima, S. ('., Ti i>i>ay, Ki;r.. 17. 1^74. 



Mr. Prfsiiltul—.Kt tbc meeting of the fiPHt 
Congress of the United Stnten. under our pren- 
enf conhtitutioi). lield in New York, 17H!), a 
HerieH of twelve itnuMKhnentH were jiroi>08ed to 
tho States, ten of wliicli were nubHciiuently 
adopted. t'nder tlie first of tbeso ameud- 
nients, therefore, whicli insures "the right of 
tlie peoj>le peaceaMy to assemble and to peti- 
tion the governmeiit for a redress of griev- 
ances," authorizes us, as American citizens, to 
convene for this nuqwise: and surely the most 
thoughtful of the statesmen of that time 
could not have anticipated a case more urgent 
tlian our own, or one so fully justifving an 
earnest ap])Iicatiou of tho privilege. S'o peo- 
jile have ever hern called upon to solve a juv 
litical proV'lem such as tho people of this .State 
have presented to them. A State govcninient, 
constituted of tlie highest degree of fraud, 
sustained by the greatest amount of ignorance, 
and those twii factors of corruption and mis- 
rule kept in i)Ower by the whole force of a re- 
!-istless partisan ascendancy, in which tlie Na- 
tional fiovernment itself, under a technical 
construction of its functions, is constrained to 
tolerate. 

People have been jiunished for their sins, 
political anil moral, their liberties have been 
forfeited for fancy or real rebellion; but no 
free (leonlo have ever, for any crime, been 
subjected to tho absolute rule of diMhonest 
strangers and the domination of their own 
slaves. No Commonwealth has ever been so 
prostrated as to elovato ignorant, uidettercd 
slaves, witliout tho least preparation, to j>er- 
form tho delicate dtities and functions of law- 
makers, ami the free and uureMtiicted uso of 
tho jtublic p\irse, as ilio rewanl of dishonest 
a<lventurors. Tho future historian of this pe- 
rio<l will have to deal with a philosophy of his- 
tory raoro original tlian that of ( ribbon, and 
will search in vain over the annals of the worl<l 
for a parallel. 

MKAS3 0¥ REPnE-HS. 

Everything wliich we may now propound 
to ourselves, lo king to m'-aH-rfa r.f relief 



from this terrible and seemingly remediless 
evil, will l>o received by the most hopeful with 
misgivings, aiicl ought to be lu-ged with modes- 
ty. ,\nd yet it is the duty of every goo<l citi/on 
not to desjjair of the republic, but to use ever\- 
element of power, which our intelligence shall 
suggest, to solve tho problem in a peacable 
manner, and, failing in that, make such new- 
combinations, even outside of the domains of 
)>cace. as revolutions juvseut to an oppressed 
l^eoplc everywhere and at all times, limite<l 
only by that prudent regard for success in tho 
justice of our cause, through the sympathy 
and support of our fellow-citizens of our owii 
race, now so powerful as a nation, and who 
have not yet become so degraded as to wish 
tho black man and his dishonest allies to over- 
throw the liberties of the white men of their 
own blood and country. Judge Levi Wood- 
bury, of New Hampshire, while delivering an 
opinioif in tho Sunremo Court of the United 
States, in tho Illio<le Icland coutroverwy, in 
1HI2, in which ho denied the jurisdiction of tho 
court in a mere political controversy, said : "It 
is asked what redress have tho peojile, if 
wronged in these matters, unless by resorting 
to the judiciary ? The answer is. tliey have tlio 
same as in all other political matters. In 
those they go to the ballot-boxes, to tho Le- 
gislature or Executive for redress of such 
grievances, as are within tho jurisdictio.i of 
each, and for such as are not, to convcntioDs 
and amendments of tlio constitution. And 
when the former fail, and these last arc for- 
bidden by statutes, all that is left in extreme 
cas(-s, whore the sufToriiiK is intolerable and 
the jirospect is gotsl of relief by action of the 
i)ooj>le without forms of law, is to do an (htl 
HamjKleu and Wa.shington, and venture action 
without thoso forms, aud abide the coaee- 
quences.'' 

This grave ojiinion, under the sanction of 
tho very scat or justice, the court of lust resort 
in our country, plainly tells you that the right 
of revolution, wlien the ordinan.- mstniments 
of government fail, is an inheritance and a 
remedy which oppressors miist be tauglit to 




^3 



u 



reepcct, and brave men to exercise. And the 
sooner that tliis lemedy ih contemphited, in 
ease a more peaceful course faile. the better it 
Avill be for our adversaries. 

St. Domingo does not fui'nish so brilhant a 
record as to entitle the colored man to domi- 
nate over the Anglo-Saxon in this country, and 
sooner or later thirty millions of white men 
will hold him to strict accountability for the 
use of the temporary power he now exercises 
here. As a friend to the colored men of this 
State, who fnlly concurs in their absolute rights 
of political equality, and appreciate them for 
their genial and friendly personal qiialities, 1 
would caution them against the evil training, 
to which their leaders are tending, in fraud and 
misrule, which, in time, will meet with a retri- 
bution, when their race wili find itself in a mi- 
nority, or when the white race, determining to 
submit no longer to such oppression to- 
wards any of their brethren. The colored 
race is on trial in this connection, and I trust 
and believe that, freed from the malign influ- 
ence of the adventurers which lead them, thej' 
will escape the fearful examples of the race in 
St. Domingo, by avoiding the errors and op- 
pressions which has kept that beautiful island 
in perpetual anarchy, and which now threat- 
ens our own community with bankruptcy and 
ruin. Our Northern brethren cannot escape the 
retlex effect of this degradation. These men are 
rex^resented in Gongrest}, and Congress is the 
law-making power for them as well as for us. 
Their educated and honest representatives 
may be in part neutralized by the ignorant and 
corrupt representatives which such a constitu- 
ency may choose to send to the National Legis- 
lature. What becomes of the dignity and con- 
servative power of the Senate to protect the 
North, when the South becomes the mart for 
the sale of senatorships to the highest bidder 
without regard to local qualifications, ability or 
honesty .^ Pennsylvania already has virtually 
three senatoi's in "that body by the exercise of 
its moneyed power in this State, and these in- 
fluences will nicrease as the South becomes im- 
poverished and corrupted. 

TYEAXXY OF A MAJOBITY. 

De Tocqneville anticipated our case when he 
wrote, nearly half a century ago. ''If the insti- 
tutions of America are destroyed, that event 
may be attributed to the unlimited authority 
of the majority, which may, at some future 
time, urge the minority to desperation, and 
oblige them to have recourse to physical force. 
Anarchy will then be the result; but it will 
have been brought about by despotism." 

How would he have intensified these remarks 
could he have anticipated the existing state 
of our political relations. Our own Calhouu 
once wisely remarked "that nations had rarely 
been disintegrated by civil war, but civil 
liberty had been often sacrificed thereby." j 
But the evils which we suffer under are be- 
ginning to be appreciated at the North, and 
when a Yankee wakes up to an evil and his 
sympathies ave ai'Oused,he permits no sophistiy 
or abstract theory to stand in the way of a 
prompt and thorough reform in his own inter- 
est and in the interest and vindication of bis 
frieuds. I love that manly feature iu their 
character, and it is mainly to this individual 
earnestness as much as to their intelligent in- 
dustry and enterprise we are so largely in- 



debted for national power and productive 
energy. After all, they love the South. 
However much as Union men they deprecated 
the unhappy war which for a time produced 
mutual alienation, yet they, with true Ameri- 
can pride, feel that the South maintained its 
full measure of American gallantry in the field 
and good faitli after the gage of war was 
against it. '1 he carpef-bag governments have 
long since been held in loathing by Northern 
men in their own States, and by those living 
amongst us, as a vile slander on the section 
they represent. And the colored men, feeling 
the disgrace, begin freely to propose driving 
them from the State with their ill-gotten gain; 
but, bad as they are. the white native who 
joins them, to spoil his own oj)pressed ]3eople 
with corruption and fraud, merits a deeper exe- 
cration. \Ve have every encouragement in our 
present non partisan movement for the co-ope- 
ration of all parties, color and sections to rid 
ourselves of these plunderers Hitherto they 
have screened themselves and their frauds be- 
hind their party lines, but now we deal witli 
them as thieves &i\d plunderers, not as partisans: 
their party aftiliations will be no protection to 
their crimes, for every honest Kepublicau, in- 
cluding the President of the United States, 
leading senators and congressmen, as well as 
leading Republicans of the North, freely de- 
nounce them as making their partisanship a 
cloak for their crimes, and desire to see them 
punished, as the best service to the party as 
well as a necessity for the safety of the best 
interests of the people. 

NORTHEllN FEELING. 

I have recently spent a couple of weeks at 
Washington, and after interviews with most of 
the leading men in and out of Congress there, 
and a large and varied correspondence with 
leading men of New England, I have found an 
unanimous sentiment of sympathy for South 
Carolina, and an earnest desire for the suc- 
cess of this Convention in procuring practical 
remedies as far as Congress can extend them, 
and the constantly-expressed hope that such 
prompt and eftieieut measures should be taken 
throughout the State, in the way of the prose- 
cution of the crimes and such other persistent 
measures against the thieves as will bring 
them to punishment, and vindicate the power 
of honest men to deal with fraud when all 
parties shall concentrate for that puri)ose. 

A distinguished Picpublican (colored) mem- 
ber of Congress, from this State, impressed 
with these views, and the sympathy exi)ressed 
in the National capital by the most influential 
of his own party, last night, at a jiublic meet- 
ing iu this city, plai ily told his friends that 
they must reform the abuses so universally 
execrated, or be cut off from the Piepublican 
party as tliseased and rotten branches, and 
that, unless reformed, their representatives 
would be ashamed of (hem, and that Frehng- 
liuysen. Daws, Sumner, Butler, and every one 
of their friends outside of the State, who kept 
his eyes open, would hold the colored men re- 
sponsible, they being in the majority and hav- 
ing voted the corrupt element into power. 
After eloquently deploring the frauds, and the 
necessity of reform in the interest of his race, 
as well as that of his party and country, he 
remarked : 

"Will you permit this state of things to con- 



tiiHie? It cannot \<n liiildpn, that llicre in 
Honiethinj; rotten in Denmark. There nnint be 
no nroiniHBcl reformation, Imt ])raoticMl reform. 
If tlioro lio any one m tlie way of that reform 
lie hIiomIiI 1>o at once removed out of llie palli. 
and now in the time to do it. Tlio national 
Hepublican imrty to-day wum ready to cut aloof 
ujion the BJiKlitcht j^rovwation from tlio cor- 
ruption now exis^tmj; in tlio .Soutli. ami itnleHH 
youdoHomethniK. and that Mj)eo<iily. they will ho 
comiielled to cut olT llio rotten hranchcH. lie 
had warned them of this more than a year ago; 
thin wart no new tiling. *'no tlunj,' he know, 
that inctoad of hoinj; better it appears i«. bo 
growing worse. Tlio (pjoBtion of tho Tax- 
payerb' Convention iH no Hore-lioa<i movement. 
Tlio people have a right to petition under tho 
constitution, and when it eamo it would como 
from hirt ooiiHtituentH, whether they voted for 
him or not, and ho was bound to have it pro- 
perly referre<l. 

"That petition will be conHidered: and do not 
allow your«elvea to bo nii»loa<l about it. The 
only way you can jtrove that you Hymi>athi»e 
witd an lioiiCHt adminiMtration of affairn in for 
von to pivo iiotife to~thoHO who have mala<l- 
"miniBtcreil affairs to (piif; for yuu to bring for- 
ward a new set of men. It is your duty to 
vindicale yourself, and prove to the world tliat 
von are in sympathy with thoao who want an 
Lonest povernmeut. He had no cause here to 
announce, or chami)ion the cause of any partic- 
ular set. But it wa.s his duty to point atten- 
tion to errors that have nearly resulted in the 
bankruptcy of the .State. It was time that tho 
hands that had caused these enors were 
stayed. It does not mean the a.scendenoy of 
6ue paiticular set of men over another, but it 
means order and pood poveniment. Tho op- 
posite courno would breed revo'ution and 
anarchy." 

Nono of these adventurers arc dangerous as 
individualH, bnt it is in the aggregate they are 
destractivo and rosistlese, oecauso hitherto 
they have been supported by the power of tho 
National Government. Burke in his great im- 
peachment speecli against Warren Hastings, 
charging him with '•letting loose a band of 
adventurers ainl robbers to humble and im- 
poverish the Indias, and for setting aside their 
original laws and usages and the well settled 
rights of the nativee of intelligence and prop- 
erty" — a case not without a suggestive parallel 
to onr own — denouncing Hastings for his out- 
rages, he remarks : " Ho has devastated coun- 
tries by the same means that itlagues of his 
deBcriplion have pro«luco<l similar desolation. 
Wo know that a Bwami of locusts, although in- 
dividually despicable, can render a countiy 
more desolate than Tamerlane. When (kmI 
.KlmiphtY chose to hiinnliate tho prido and 
preaumption of I'liaraoh au'l to bring him to 
ithame, Ho dnl not effect His puqioso with 
lions and tigers, bnt Ho sent lice, mice, frops 
&nd everything loathsome and contemntible to 
pollute and destroy tho country:" and tho re- 
construction policy of the country has unfortn- 
natftly ihowe\er well intended) jiro<iuce<l a 
political plague of this character in our devoted 
State. The authority of the National (Jovern- 
mcnt is now a.s ftjlly rccognizeil in this State 
as waM that of the Almighty by IMiaraoh. when 
the plagues in Kgj'pt were remove<l. May we 
not, therefore, ]>e'tition the National (lovern- 
ment with confidence for the same favor in the 



removal of thcHO pests, or a mitigation of their 
political ixjwer in persccutina us 'f 

INTf:ilV;.ST8 ol' THF. niKKnJIEN. 

It has boon urge<l in Justification of tho rc- 
conslniction jm)Iicv that it was a measure dc- 
sigiiod to |)rolect tiio newly ac<iuired rights of 
tho froedmen. But all |)arti(!s now coiicodo 
that tho remedy is worse than tho disease; 
that while frood'mons rights ought to be pro- 
tected and Becnre<l, yet no code of political 
morals or economical wisdom will justify tho 
tho sacrifice of tho rights and property of free 
white mon to effect it, and the overthrow, to a 
great extent, of the honesty of the freedmaii 
himcelf. by forcing him into poniiions of trust 
and power before his intellectual and moral 
training had fitted him for the iliscliargc of tho 
duties of statesmansbij) and to resist tho cor- 
ruptions of suddenly acquired power. Tho 
evidence of this position is so ])owerfully and 
truthfully set forth in 'The I'rostrato Stato of 
South CaVoliHa, ' under negro government, by 
a distinguished Abolitionist, the Hon. James 
S. I'ike, a former member of Congress from 
the Stato of Maine and tho late minister to the 
Hague under the appointment of Mr. Lincoln, 
who visited this State, as the freedman's 
friend, in February and March last, and saw 
with his own eyes tho evils which he honestly 
relates, and which but contirms the o])iiiioii of 
every Northern gentleman who has taken the 
pains to investigate the sul)ject for himself. I 
would earnestly recommend this lM>ok for its 
facts, which will not be disputed by any fair- 
minded man, who looks into the fearfully 
moral trial of elevating ignorance and fraud 
over intelligence an.l honesty, an<l which tends 
to produce a prejudice against the whole col- 
ored race, because of their supposed responsi- 
bility for tho dishonest and ignorant leaders 
that now ropresent them in the State goveni- 
meut. Mr. Pike says: "The rule of South 
Carolina should not IJe dignified with the name 
of government. It is the institution of a huge 
system of brigandage. Tho men who haveha<l 
it in control are tho jjicked villains of the com- 
munity. They are tho highwaymen of tho 
State. They are professed legislative robbers. 
They are men who have studied and practice<l 
tho "art of legalized theft. They are in no 
sense different from, or better than, the men 
who fill the prisons and pcnitontiarios of the 
world. They are, in fact, precisely that class, 
only more daring and audacious. They pick 
your pockets by law. They rob the poor and 
the rich alike bv law. They confiscate your 
estate by law. 'I'hey do none of these things 
under the tyrant's plea of the pubUc good or 
the public necessity. They do all simply to 
enricli therasel^s personally. Their solo base 
object is to gorge the individual with public 
j.lunder. Having done it they turn aroii:id and 
i)uy immunity for their acts by sharing their 
gains with the ignorant, jiauperzcd, besotted 
crowd, who have chosen them to the stations 
they fill, and which enables them to rob and 
plunder." 

Mr. Chamberlain, a native of Massachusetts, 
a zealous Itepublican, feeling humiliated by 
tho corruptions of tho State Goveniment while 
ho was our attorney-general, in a published 
lettar of great jwwer and candor in 1S71, in 
which ho admits that the reconstniction meas- 
ures have produced glaring evils, writes: "Three 



years have passed, and the result is — what ? 
lucompeteucy, dishonesty, corruptions in all 
its forms have 'advanced their miscreant 
fronts,' have put to flight the small remnant 
that opposed them, and now rules the party 
M'hich rules the State. * * * i can never 
be indifferent to anything which touches the 
fair fame of the great national party to which 
all my deepest convictions attach me, and I 
repel the libel which the party bearing that 
name in this State is pouring upon us. I am a 
llepublican by habit, by conviction, by associa- 
tion, but my llepublicanism is not, I trust, 
composed solely of equal parts of ignorance 
and rapacity. Such is the plain statement of 
the present condition of the dominant party of 
our State " 

FRAUD FEOJI TUE BEGINNING. 

This government of the State actually origi- 
nated in a gross frau.1. Tiie Federal Govern- 
ment, in a spirit of caaritable liberality, organ- 
ized, through the Freednien's Bureau, a charity 
for the aid of the colored people, whose desti- 
tute condition after the war, especially among 
the women and children and the aged of both 
sexes, enlisted i3ublic sympathy. Food and 
clothing were to be distributed under the direc- 
tion of Gen. Howard, the head of the bureau 
in Washington and in this State, ):ty his assist- 
ant, Gen. Scott, who soon after became the 
governor to the surprise of those not in the 
secrete of the party organized under the aus- 
pices of the Freedmen's Bureau and direction. 
You will find, however, in the printed report, 
No. 121, of the second session of the forty-sec- 
ond Congress, this startling paragraph, as a 
part of the secret history of carpet-bag rule in 
this State, by which you will learn that this 
charity intended for the indigent col- 
ored men by the Federal Government 
was diverted as a corruption fund to 
initiate the fraudulent and corrupt govern- 
ment which we now desire to be relieved of. 
The report referred to is from an investigating 
Congressional committee ^-into the alleged 
frauds of Gen. Howard. "It was offered to be 
proved that in South Carolina the assistant 
commissioner, Scott, had been elected Gov- 
ernor of that State by the corrupt use of 
rations, provisions and transportation: that as 
an officer of the bureau, and hiiviug the control 
of this property, he, by and with the knowl- 
edge and connivance of Howard, did use such 
property to the extent of three hundred thous- 
and dollars for this purpose. The names of the 
witnesses were of high character, and members 
of the Eepublican party were handed to the 
committee, and subpienas asked for them, by 
whom it was stated by respectable persons 
these facts could be 8ubstanti»ted. The ma- 
jority of the committee refused to allow them 
to be summoned." This government, con- 
ceived in fravid, has perpetuated itself in the 
same manner by such legislative and official 
measures and practices, in dei'ogation of the 
plainest rights of the people, so that each 
species of fraud and corruption, which other 
communities have initiated in detail, have been 
aggregated here, and culminated in a grand 
repository of poUtical expedients to crush out 
all opposition. 

Mr. Corbin, a native of New England and 
the United States district attorney for South 
Cai'olina, and a llepublican senator of the 



State, testifies before the congressional com- 
mittee that the elective machiueiy of the State 
was as follows : "Three commissioners were 
appointed by the Governor: those three com- 
missioners appointed managers in the several 
precincts in the county, and were to furnish 
those managers with ballot boxes, locked and 
sealed, except an aperture through which to 
drop the votes in the box. The managers were 
to receive the votes on the day of election, keep 
a poll-list, and return the poll-list and the box 
to the commissioners of election, who were to 
count the votes; they were to do that withui 
three days after the election; they had three 
days within which they were to return the 
boxes and poll-lists, and the commissioners 
were required within ten days to canvass the 
vote and make a return to the State board of 
canvassers; and the State board was to canvass 
the result and declare it. 

* * * "You can see what the opportuni- 
ties were. The managers had the boxes at 
their precincts remote from the county seat. 
* * * Some of them had to carry them 
thirty or forty miles to the county seat to de- 
liver them to the commissioners. If they 
chose to knock out the bottom and put in 
other votes, or to change those that were in 
there, they had the opportunity to do it. And 
after the boxes were received by the commis- 
sioners, they had the same opportunity to com- 
mit frauds, because the boxes were in their 
custody for ten days. Some very glaring frauds 
were doubtlessly committed in some of the 
lower counties. At the very last term of the 
court I convicted three parties in Beaufort 
County for abstracting ballots that had been 
cast by the voters at the election, and substi- 
tuting others for them, and also for erasing 
the names of some of the candidates upon the 
ballots cast and substituting others therefor." 

Another witness before this committee testi- 
fies that at a late election "women gave votes 
for their husbands or their brothers who they 
said were sick," and were not challenged, as 
most of the commissioners and managers 
were themselves candidates and all of the same 
party, except in some precincts where as no 
one of the party could read and write, they had 
to resort to one of the Beform party for a 
manager to make the record at such polls. 
And he further testifies that in an election re- 
ferred to the report gave "a round thousand 
against everybody on our ticket, and a thous- 
and in favor of everybody on the other ticket. 
I do not think they ever counted the ballots." 

TAX.\TION WITHOUT UEl'RESENTATION. 

These facts demonstrate the hopelessness of 
honest representation to protect the rights of 
property, and demonstrate that the great 
maxim of the llepublican governments, which 
makes representation a condition of taxation, 
is here suspended. Let us contemplate the 
fruits of this departure from llepublican form of 
government. Judge Carpenter testifies before 
the Congressinal committee: 

'■The property of South Carolina is assessed 
in round numbers at ;J180,UOO.000. I do not 
think it would sell in any market for ?<100,000,- 
000, for South Carolina has vast tracts of poor 
land. 1 think property is assessed there at 
about twice its value. 

"I will instance one case in Clarendon when a 
tract of land had been offered two veara for 



•r5,flO0 and tlioy aHHewnod it at :?15.O0<). and the 
owner ooiild not f^ot tlie e(iualuatiou board to 
do anytliing about it. 

"TaxcH Hoemod to be aMHe^Hed with a view to 
the HuppoHcd iiccoHHiiiert of tlio State per 
annum, ratlior tliun tlio vuhio of iho property. 
Trior to tlio war llio property of tlie State warf 
about .r js(),(i(i(i,()(Mi, agauiHt •■rlMO.OOd.Oud now. 
and I tliink the taxcM niir»od for State puqwrnoij 
before the war wuH about r 100,0(1(1. • » • 
When I Hay that over t4,()0(),(mio iu levied tliie 
year for State taxes, I mean to say tliat thev 
are tryiuf; to collect two yearn" taxeH in one.^' 

Whiii- on tluH Hubject I will cite aca^eof L'rcat 
liaidHhip. known to inynelf, as one of a larj,'e 
nunibi'r: The plantation of an iinfoitunatc 
liliiutor wan HoI>l for debt lartt month. It 
brought but i'Oi) at auction, and the taxeH ou 
the Bamo being ¥2.50, loft the creditor but •'?450, 
whilHt the State afHCHned the property for tax- 
ation at •jlO.ODO. Is it any wonder that nearly 
a million of ilollaiH of taxation its left unpaid 
every year, and the land virtually conlisoated 
for taxes, Icavinj; homeless miiny a family ? 

I (]uote freely from Judge Caqienter's testi- 
mony before the Congressional committee, be- 
cauHO he is a Itepubhcan. originally a])pointed 
by Chief Justice Chase as registrar in bank- 
ruptcy in Charleston, and has been twice 
elected by the Legislature as one of the judges 
of the State, and im an ardent supporter of the 
National and St;ito governments: "Another 
cause of discontent (ho testities) was the char- 
acter of persons appointed to till offices under 
the Executive. The constitution of South Cai-- 
oliua gives the Executive vast patronage, or at 
leant the Legislature have assumed it, whether 
the constitution gives it or not. All the county 
auditors, county treasurers, tria' justices, and 
most of the local otlicers, are appointed by the 
(ioveruor. As a rule they are utterly incompe- 
tent, and as a rule they are utterly corrujjt.'" 

He further testifies that the Oovernor had 
pardoned a large number of criminals just be- 
fore his own second election. ''I saw several 
i)ersous that I had myself sentenced to the 
I'euiteutiary, who were pardoned just before 
the election. I met them ou the streets, three 
or four of a very ba<l description of men— men 
who had been sentenced to the Penitentiary 
for a series of years. I think the otticial state- 
ment of pardons from October 1. IXG'J, to Octo- 
ber 1. 1870, gives the number as two hundred 
and live out of some four hundred and eighty 
who were in the I'enitentiary. I think the 
pardons were largely in excess of the convic- 
tioiiH." And now, while ou the subject of ex- 
ecutive interference with public justice, I will 
relate cA«e« of legislative interference a8 a 
sample of many which tend to overthrow the 
independence of the judiciary: 

THE iri)H lAI'.V. 

Lant year, a case was tried in Charleston in- 
volving a claim fordamageit against a railroa<l. 
Tho |)Uintin"s attorney took exce])tion to the 
charge of the judge and the tinding of the 
jur)', who, it appears, found a verdict for the 
defendant. This matter was taken up by the 
Legislature, because it was alleged he had 
made improper rollections ou a colored woman 
of doubtful character. The judge was imme- 
diately telegraphed for to appear before the 
I^egisiature at Columbia, his court closed in 
the meantime, and he only escaped impeach- 



ment by tho lawyer explaining that the mem- 
ber to whom ho ha<l compUine4l had given 
moro force to his language than he liau iu- 
tended. 

Tho committee reported fully on tho cane, 
aoiiuitting tlu; judge of any im|)roper action; 
and the Siipromo Court, to wliich an appeal 
was made, took no excejitioii to his ruIingH. 
'i'lie lawyer admitted that he did not think tho 
woman had sulTered by his remarks. Tho 
committee cIoho<1 their report an follows : "In 
conclusion your committee would remark that 
the enacting of this farce, ex|)ensivo though it 
be, will not fail of ]>roducing goo<l results, if 
for the future it shall Htunii an a beacon light 
to warn the ]{ouse of Kepresentativcs against 
any investigation intonihngs of judges or the 
verdict of juries. These matters of right be- 
long to tho Circuit and Supreme CourtH, and 
we may not touch them without infringing U|>on 
the inde]>endeuce of the judicial de])artment 
and weaken pubhc confidence iu tho adminis- 
tration." 

This rejiort saved the judge, and he waii 
able to reoi>en his court again. Jlut of course 
his tenure of office, he will feel, hangs ou the 
jileasure of the Legislature, and his decibioiis 
must be measurably affected thereby. 

A few weeks ago, in Camden, a colored man 
was i)roved guilty of larceny by three resi)ecta- 
ble witnesses of his own color; no rebutting 
testimony but that of the prisoner himself, who 
denied tlie charge. The jurj- of colored men 
aciiuitted him, but as none of them could 
write, the verdict was signed by the foreman 
for them, by making his mark. After the ver- 
dict had been signed, some of the jurors de- 
clared it was not their decision, and displayed 
so much ignorance of their duties, that the 
judge was constrained to discharge them aa in- 
competent to tiT another case. A resolution was 
immediately introduced into the Legislature 
for im|)caching the judge, the latter portion of 
which embodies tho alleged offence: "Now, 
therefore, be it resolved, that the said K. B. 
Carjjenter be imi>^:lied for conduct unbecom- 
ing a judge, and for denying to citizens of this 
State, ou account of color, the right to ser\'e 
as jurors in and for the County of Kershaw." 
The judge's friends, however, were able to 
save him from impeachment by a small majori- 
ty. Yet Iio is so popular among them as to 
have been twice elected to the bench by the 
Legislatu-e, but of course be now has notice 
that ignorant colored juries must not bo dis- 
chargeil in future. There seems to bo a con- 
stant struggle for power here, and it has lately 
develoi>ed a new phase of a dangerous States 
rights character. A bank became insolvent 
lately, and measures were taken by some of 
the creditors in one of the State courts to deal 
with its assets. Other creditors and tho offi- 
cers of the bank j>referred to go into voluntary 
bankruptcy in the I'liited .'states court, and 
jilace the assets of the bank under that iiu-is- 
diction, by the direction of the district judge 
of the Federal court. This brought about a 
controversy as to the jurisdiction tinder au 
anpeal from the ilecision of the local I'nited 
States judge, which decision was fully sus- 
tained by the Federal circuit judge, it being 
determined that the State courts had no jwwer 
in such cases. The judge of tho State court, 
however, does uot concur iu this questioning of 
his power iu the premises, but has ruled the 



6 



lawyers of the opposition for contempt of 
court ill advis.ng their clients to seek justice 
in a United States court, and actually "debars 
some of them from practicing their profession 
in the State courts. This personal injustice 
acts as a menace to the whole bar, so that those 
of us who have no confidence in the State 
courts, while subjected to the interference of 
the Legislature, are practically denied the right 
to appeal to a more reliable court by the inter- 
ference of the State judges. 

TKINTING FRAUDS. 

If time peiTuitted I could greatly enlarge on 
this class of evils from authentic sources. The 
coiuts are not only intimidated, but the press 
is subsidized. Mr. Pike informs us that ''the 
State government employs and pays them ad 
libitum. An instalment of f 75,000 lately went 
to about twenty-live papers, in sums ranging 
from i*l,000 to' ^lM)ii a piece, a list of which 
was published by order of a vote of the Legis- 
lature a short time ago. Of course, none of 
the deviltry of the State government is likely 
to be exposed through them. The whole 
amount of the printing bills of the State last 
year as computed (for everything here has to 
be in part guess work) aggregated the im- 
mense sum of $600,000." I think his estimate 
is too large, but I believe it is now known to 
have exceeded $575,000— a sum which would 
have more than disbursed the whole expenses 
of the State before the war, and larger than 
the aggregate printing bills of Iowa, Massa- 
chusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland. 
These States, containing an aggregate popula- 
tion of over ten millions and a capital thirty 
times larger than that of this State, a reading 
people, and yet their public printing only 
amounts to the aggregate yearly sum of $385,- 
000. This enormous fraud enures to the ben- 
fit of a printing ring in Columbia represented 
by the clerk of the House and the clerk of the 
Senate, who enjoy the monopoly and divide 
the proceeds with leadiu" members of the 
government and the Legnifeture. I am fur- 
nished by a prominent and useful member of 
the Legislature the following synopsis from 
the report of the joint special "investigating 
committee, ill their statement of grand totals 
of cash expenditures for public printing in the 
following years, by which it will be seen that 
this fraud progresses in a yearly ratio so 
startling as to render it difficult to conceive 
how such public robberies were tolerated with- 
out producing that degree of public incUgna- 
tion which would have overleaped law-abiding 
propriety in a tar-producing countiy, and where 
feathers are not beyond the impoverished 
purses of the victims, who have exhibited a 
patience and a meekness worthy of Job and of 
Moses. Five hundred and sev"enty-tive thous- 
and dollars were actually paid last year for 
public printing, whereas the first two years 
expenditure for that puqjose, after the recon- 
struction of the State, in honest hands, was 
but $43,000, or less than $22,000 per annum, 
and when the aggregate expenditure of sixty 
years before the war for printing did not reach 
$400,000: 

Public Prlnilng. 

September, 1868, to October 31, 1870..$ 43,440 57 

October, 1870. to October, 1871 134,151 44 

October, 1871, to October, lS7'i 215,129 ss 



October. 1S72, to October, 1S73 331,945 66) 

Undrawn appropriation 1S73 118,0.54 34 - 

Extra session appropriation 1873 125,000 ooj 

S9n7,721 87 

Deduct flrst two years— isfls to 1&70 . . 43,440 57 
Cost of three years printing f 924,281 30 

From October 31, 1872, to November li), 
1873, the date of the act authorizing the issue 
of certificates to the "Ilepublican Printing 
Company," certificates of indebtedness receiva- 
ble for taxes were actually pal'l for public 
printing to that company to the enormous 
amount of $575,000, whereas the total reve- 
nues of the State the same fiscal year, accord- 
ing to the State treasurer's report, was but 
$1,719,728. 

SWOLLEN EXPENSES. 

The result of all these frauds first produce 
over issues of bonds and then a repudiation of 
them. Credit failing, the resort is to taxation, 
or rather to confiscation of the private proper- 
ty of the people. I should like to give you a 
full comparison of the expenditures before and 
after the war, and even year by year the com- 
parison is instructive, as the "figures steadily 
rise with each new administration, but time 
will only permit a mere synopsis of the 
more prominent: 

Taxable propertv of the State before 

tlie war $490,000,000 

Taxable property now 170,000,000 

Tax levies before the war, not over. . . 500,000 

Tax levied this year 2,700,ooo 

Legislative e.xpenses before the war . . 40,000 

Legislative expenses this year 291, 000 

Public printing before the war 5,000 

Public printing this year, at least 450,000 

Legislative expeusee reached the enormous 
sum one year of over half a million. I under- 
stand some four huudred employees were paid 
as clerks, and other assistants to the members, 
being more than two apiece; some of the clerks 
signed the receipt for their salaries by their 
mark as they could not write, and one was paid 
for such services who had not been in the 
State in two years. 

We shall liave but limited reforms till the 
people are educated. The ignorance of black 
or white men is productive of the same evils. 
In Massachusetts ninety-three per cent, of the 
people, over ten years old, read and write, and 
but seven out of every huudred are ignorant 
below this standard. Yet eighty per cent, of 
the criminals come from this ignorant class, 
and only twenty per cent, from those who can 
read and write. New York and Pennsylvania 
stands seven to one, and the United States 
stands ten to one in this relation. I have very 
grave fears that unless active measures are 
taken to educate the rising generation of the 
colored race, and induce them to train their 
children to habits of mdustry, that they will 
degenerate as they have in San Domingo, and 
become a set of mere camp-followers of politi- 
cal leaders, or degenerate into pauperism. 

While they were slaves they had the care of 
masters whose interest it was to teach them 
industry, and subject them to some degree of 
moral discipline. Let me invoke the intelli- 
gent men of the races to consider the necessity 
of an active reform in this matter if they 
would elevate their people, or, indeed, stay 
their decadence as meu, by making them less 



the iiiMtrumeiilH of poliliciaim and more devo- 
ted to their own true clovaliou au a race. 

OCIl POLICY IN TIIK FTTVnE. 

Much of the oviirt which iifflict our Comnioii- 
wouUhaif) iiodoiilit chai>,'eal>lo to uii Ill-judKcd 
and, i)erhai>H, a piirtiMau iiolicy on tho part of 
Coiimx-MM, more or KiHH (hctntod hy an honcMl 
behcf that thoHO rachcal rhan^cB in tho \n\\n 
and iiHagCB of the State were noct-BMarj' for tlio 
jtrotoction of colored nien'B rijjhtH at;ainHt the 
projudicoH of thoir fonner inaisterH. Hard as 
were tho conditions which rcverBod tho order 
of the coinuuuiity liy elevating ignorance to 
jihicpH of j)ower, aiid ij,'noiing tho claiuiH of in- 
toUigcnco and prt)jierly to jirotootion and rej)- 
rcKiMitation, yet thcBO cviU have hecoino intcn- 
HJIicd and pon)otuated hy tlio neglect or refusal 
of tho coninuuiily to accept tho condition and 
utilize what little iniluonco and power for re- 
HtrainiiiR tluH ignorance and corruption hy a 
ready co-o])cration with the many honoMt and 
intelligent men of hoth paitien and both raccH, 
who have always deaired to reform thoir party. 
Now. however, a dawning of good feeling on 
the part of even tho most extreme Iladicalfl. 
in and out of tho Klate, and an open and 
pronounced Mvmpathy agaiuHt fraud and 
corruption, clieerrt us on to do noine- 
thing ourHclvoH, and to show ouraelveH 
grateful for tliiw nynipathy as well aH willing to 
help ourselvcB out of tho difticulty. We Hhould 
ignore pai-ty linen, color or place of birth, and 
co-operate iieartily with any man. and any race, 
and any party wIiobo miHnion iH honcHty. and 
we Hhoiild do it so heartily at* to leave no doubt 
in the mind« of any one. Past ibsues Hhould 
not only be forgotten, but even the'short-com- 
ingu of'individualB Bhould be condoned in the 
public mind towardrt thoHO who will now hearti- 
ly join U8 to purge the .State. When one con- 
IcmiilateB tho f rai'.tien of our own race, and tho 
many weakneBHOH which attach themselvcB to 
the best of our public men— when we further, 
Mr. rresident, look into our own heartB, 
and the hidden motives and even selfiah 
actioiiB of our own lives, we must re- 
joice that we are not cxpOBcd. and we should 
bo ready to forgive much that we know of 
others. " Many a good man has fallen beyond 
redemi)tion because of tho rolentlessness of 
the public towards one unfortunate political or 
eocial error, and many a good man, by reason 
of a single frailty or act of disloyalty to bis 
party, has been driven into ojien and extreme 
liostility by an undue and undiscriminatiiig 
abuse. Lotus, therefore, forget the bad meas- 
ures of the past, except as lessons to bo avoided 
iu future, and tlio bad actions of men, ex- 
cejit as beacon lights to be guarded against: 
and while wo should altvays honor and repose 
uiiipialiticd conlidenco in men whose probity 
and juil^ment have never deceived us, yet pol- 
itics is a web of mixed materials, and in the 
weaving wo must not be too exclusive iu our 
selection of the yarn, nor unwilling to use the 
loo.'U because partly constituted of doubtful 
metal. Let us, therefore, with contidence me- 
inonalizc the tJongress of our great nation to 
alTorcl us such relief as .Vmerican citi/cns have 
a right to ask for. Wo have a constitutional 
right to a ll<.-i)iiblican form of government, and 
and now it is adnutted by every class and every 
j)arly throughout bur common land that the 
rights of property is entirely ignored, and that 



there is no machinery within tho .State power- 
ful enough to resist the fraud and corruptions 
which itnpoveriHh and humiliate us. It would, 
thoroforo, bo absurd to say that wo enjoyed that 
— that fnnn of a itepublii-un government con- 
templated bv tho I''edcral ( 'onstitution. .Julius 
Ciisar overthrew the liberties of the people of 
Homo in ancient times, and Louis Napoleon 
suppressed those of I''raiico in ni(Klern times, 
while conforming in the most explicit manner 
to tho foriiis of tho republic; but no publicists, 
economists, jurists or historians iiavo over 
claHsitied these nations as republics, after the 
overthrow of the rights of these i)eople, be- 
ciuso the/(*r/;w wore maintained. 

COSHTITUTIOSAL OUARANTEE.<4. 

Wo are guaranteed by the fourth article of 
our National Constitution altejiublican form of 
government. This means the sul>stancc, not 
the form only. The fonu must be the emana- 
tioH from tho substance, as tho shadow follows 
tho body. The earnest and astute IxkIv of 
statesmen, who created a Ucpublican forin of 
government and who designed that glohous 
instrument for the security of themselves an<l 
their jiosterity, disregarded fonns when they 
counselled a separation from the mother coun- 
try on the ground that, to freemen, taxation 
without representation was a form without 
substance, however much doctrinarians of that 
ago might show up the bea<Uy of the IJritish 
constitution. And when wo contemidate that 
insalion irithonl ri'pr«srn/n/iiiii was the solo 
cause of our separation from the crown of 
Great Britain, aro we not inevitably brought to 
the concluBion that tliat right of representation 
as a condition precedent to taxation was the 
very corner-stone of that Republican e<litic6 
guaranteed to each State of the new confeder- 
ate nation which Washington. JefTenjon. 
Adams anil Hutledge intended to secure to us ? 

In this .State, apart from the admitted frauds 
and corruptions, of which the party in power 
furnish the proofs themselves, that I have 
laid before you in their own words, demon- 
strating to every mind that taxation without 
representation is the priiici])al cause which de- 
prives ns of tho practical rights of Itepublicans, 
and, indeed, of the simplest a;id universally 
conceded rights of any i>eoplo. 

Sui)ix)so every State in tho Union bad such a 
foitn and practice of goveniment, and the 
same principle of action should extend itself 
(as it surely would) to the Federal Govern- 
ment, how long would tho constitution con- 
tinue to guarantee a Republican form to itself ? 
liut wo have tho testimony of the wise framers 
and commentators on tlio constitution itself 
on this subject. Mr. Hamilton, in his No. 51 
of the Federalist, while defending the consti- 
tution to insure its adoptiou by tho States, 
writes as follows: 

"It is of great im|X)rtanco in a Republic, not 
only to guard society against tho opjuession of 
rulers, liut to guard one jmrt of society against 
tho injustice of the other part. Jn.slirt'i.i tin mil 
of ijnr'Thinin/: it is the end of civil society: it 
eser haM been and ever will be nurbued mitil it 
be obtained, or until lil>erty be lost in the pur- 
suit. In a society under tho forms of wuich 
the stronger factions can readily unit© and 
oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be 
said to roign as iu a state of nature, when 



the weaker individual is not secured against 
the violence of the stronger." 

Is not this the acknowledged condition of 
this community by the evidence I have already 
adduced from leading and otttcial men who 
direct its affairs at present ? 

THE FATHERS OF THE REPUBLIC. 

Jefferson, in a letter to Madisou, says : The 
executive power in our government is not the 
only, perhaps not even the principal object of 
my solicitude. The tyranny of the legislature 
is really the danger most to be feared." 

And, of course, a tyrannical Legislature is one 
of the elements which the power of the Fede- 
ral government was intended to guard against 
under the guarantee of the fourth article of 
the constitution. Madison remarked in the 
convention : "An increase of population will of 
necessity increase the proportion of those who 
will labor under all the hardships of life and 
secretly sigh for a more equal distribution of 
its blessings. These may in time outnumber 
those who are placed above feelings of indi- 
gence. According to the equal laws of suf- 
frage, the power will slide into the hands of 
the former: no agrarian attempts have yet been 
made in this country, but symptoms of a level- 
ling spirit, as we have understood, have suffi- 
ciently appeared in a certain quarter to give 
notice of the future danger. How is this dan- 
ger to be guarded against on llepublicau prin- 
ciples ? How is the danger in all cases of in- 
terested coalitions to o])press the minority to 
be guarded against Y^ The guaranty clause of 
the Federal Constitution answers the question, 
and it has been reserved to the present time 
to justify the wisdom of that provision. Mr. 
Gerry, in his reply to this, said : "He did not 
deny the position of Mr. Madison that the ma- 
jority will generally violate justice where they 
have an interest in doing so, but did not think 
there was any such temptation in this coun- 
try." But Mr. Gerry could not anticipate the 
possibility of a government in the hands 
of a set of dishonest adventurers, supported 
by an overwhelming number of emancipated 
slaves, perfectly resistless in point of numbers, 
ignorant of their own interest as they are reck- 
less of the rights, of the pi-operty and the per- 
sons they supersede. With a few favorable 
exceptions, the intelligent and honest colored 
men are wholly disregarded and without intlu- 
ence, aud their efforts for reform or even to 
educate and elevate their race, to tit them for 
the sacred duties of American citizens, meets 
with no favorable response, and, therefore, 
renders reform nearly hopeless without the 
sympathy and co-operation of our fellow-citi- 
zens outside of the State and through the 
National Government in the protection of the 
rights of the minority. 

iMontesquieu, and other distinguished piibli- 
cists, had suggested the importance of fednra- 
tive republics as a practical means of extending 
the sphere of popular governments with safety 
to the permanency of the liepublican principle 
in even great nations, because not only were 
these smaller members of the confederacy pro- 
tected against foreign conquest aud domestic 
violence, but should abuses crop out into one 
part they are reformed by those that remain 
sound; and the section of the constiiution 
under discussion, which guarantees to every 
State a Kepublican fonn of government, is the 



logical conclusion of the above premises. The 
evils to be thus guarded against, then only 
"cropping" out to the immaginatiou of these 
writers, are now developed here in full into 
exaggerated maturity and fruitfulness, and 
hence we petition the sound portion of our 
confederacy to grant us the remedies re- 
ferred to. 

Mr. Madison, the greatest authority on our 
form of government, again remarks : "It will 
bo found, indeed, on a candid review of our 
situation, that some of the distresses under 
which we labor have been erroneously charged 
on the operations of our goverument, but it 
will be found, at the same time, that other 
causes will alone account for many of our 
heaviest misfortunes, and particularly for that 
prevailing aud increasing distrust of public en- 
gagements and alarm for private rights, which 
are echoed from one end of the continent to 
the other. These must be chiefly, if not wholly, 
effects of the unsteadiness and injustice with 
which a factious s])irit has tainted our public 
administrations. By a faction I understand a 
number of citizens, whether amounting to a 
majority or a minority." After discussing the 
dangers to the equality of interests and the 
public weal, arising from the predominance of 
powerful factions, who become masters of the 
situation, he further remarks : 

"But the most common andduralile source of 
faction has been the vai'ious and unequal dis- 
tribution of property, those who hold and 
those who are without property. * * * The 
apportionment of taxes on the various de- 
scriptions of property is an act which seems 
to require the most exact impartiality, yet 
there is perhaps no legislative act in which 
greater opportunity and temptation are given 
to a predominant party to trample on tke rules 
of justice. Every shilling with which they 
overburden the inferior number is a shilling 
saved to their pockets. * * * rpo secure 
the public good and private rights against the 
danger of such a faction, and at the same time 
preserve the spirit and form of popular gov- 
ernment, is then the great object to which our 
inquiries are directed. Let mo add that it is 
the great desideratum by which alone this form 
of goverument can be rescued from the op- 
pi'obrium under which it has so long labored." 
Hei-e again you perceive how pointedly his ai'- 
guments tend to show the necessity of the 
federal guaranty to each State. 

Hamilton, on the same subject says: "With- 
out a guarantee, the assistance to be derived 
from the Union in repelling those domestic 
dangers which may sometimes threaten the 
existence of the State constitutions must be 
renounced. Usurpation may rear its crest in 
each State and trample upon the liberties of 
the people, while the national government 
could legally do nothing more than behold its 
encroachments with indignation and regret. 
* * * * rjjjg inordinate pride of State 
importance has suggested to some minds an 
objection to the principle of a guaranty in the 
Federal government as involving an^ofticious 
interference in the domestic concerns of the 
members. A scruple of this kind would de- 
prive us of one of the principal advantages to 
be exxjected from the Union, and can only flow 
from a misapprehension of the nature of the 
provision itself. It could be no impediment 
to reforms of the State constitution by a ma- 



9 



jority of the p<'ople. In a legal and peacealde 
inoil'i thiH rigltt woiiKl remain undimininheJ. 
A miarmitPf l)y the nationiil initbority woiiM lif 
aH nnn-!i dii'octod uKainht the ut<ur])aticin of 
rulerHaH a)<:iinHt the fcmientu imd oiitragCB of 
faction and sedition in the coininunitv." 

Calhoun, too. the inoHt advanced advcjcate of 
conBtitntional State riKhtn, held that the guar- 
antee clftUf<o nmler diccusHion wuh intended 
to be more a correctionary measure against tho 
UHurpation or misrule of State governments 
than for protection aguinnt domeBtic violence. 
And I would liere remark, that the Hacred C'on- 
nervutivo views of that great HtateHman, who 
valued the Union next to the ConHtitution, and 
regarded them ah ncceHBaiT to the exintenee of 
each other, have heen too often TOiMa])]irehend- 
ed, and too often miBrei)reHenteil. hy opposite 
clai<aes of jMjliticianH. who, citing what they be- 
lieve to be tho logical con(<e<iueuce8 of hiH 
opinions rather than thoee of his exemplified 
views and avowed jirinciples. In diBCUSsing 
the fourth article of the constitution, he writes 
as followH : 

"I come now." he eays, '"to the last, in the 
order in which I am considering them: but tho 
first as they stand in the section: and the one 
immediately involved in the question under 
consideration. — I mean the guarantee of a re- 
publican form of government to every State in 
the Union. 

"I hold that, according to its true constrnc- 
tiou, its ohJKl is the kevehse of (hat of prolec- 
timi against (Unnestic violence: and that, instead 
of being intended to protect the gorrniwents of 
the States it is intended to protect each State 
(I use the term as defined) against its govern- 
uu-}U: or. more strictly, against the ambition or 
usurpation of its rulers. That the objects of 
the constitution to which the guarantees refer 
— and liberty more especially — may be en- 
dangered or destroyed by rulers, will not bo 
denied. But, if admitted, it follows as a con- 
sequence, that it must bo embraced in the 
g^iarantees. if not inconsistent with the lan- 
guage of the section. But if embraced, must 
be in the guarantee under consideration, as it 
is not in the other two. If it be added that, 
without this construction, the guarantees 
would utterly fail to protect the States 
against the attempts of ambition and 
\i8urpalion on tho part of rulers, to change 
tho form.s of their governments and de- 
stroy their liberty — the danger above all others 
to which free and popular govennnents are 
'most exposed, i— it would seem to follow irre- 
sistibly, under the rule I have laid down, that 
the construction I have placed upon tho provi- 
sion as to tlio object of the guarantees is tho 
true one. But if doubts should still remain, 
the fact that it fully explains why tlie provi- 
sion requires tlio aiiplication of the Slate in 
cane of the puaranteo against domestic \io- 
lence, is omitted, would place it beyoml con- 
troversy: for it would be a perfect absurdity to 
require that the party against which the 
guarantee is intended to protect, should make 
an application to bo protected against itself," 

(•ONoni>S AND THE STATES. 

Time forbids further citations from these 
valuable sources of information as to the ob- 
jects of the constitution and the intended use 
of Federal power to insure the rights in .States 
of property and pei-sons against factions of 



majorities or minorities, or even tho State au- 
thorities themselves. •Benublican forms woro 
not only to bo required, Vnt tho substantial 
securities to everj- citi/en which that form in 
Bubstance nroduccs. I am a DemfH-rat of the old 
school, ana consequently regard State rights 
with the reverence duo to that great Now Kng- 
land principle of local self-govenimcnt. limit- 
ed only by ilie constitution as the organic law of 
I the Union. I huvo not regarded some rjf the 
\ constitutional amendments as wise, and much 
, of tho reconstruction policy a« not only contra- 
I rj- to the spirit of tho constitution, but the cause 
j of most of the evils j.revailing in tho South, 
j which I but do justice to the great jiarty in 
, jKiwer in Baying 1 know that they now de- 
plore alao, and are ready to correct. Wo 
liavo not tho government of the iK-oplc in tho 
BOnse of our original coni])act with tho Union, 
nor of the colored man. as many gooil men in 
the llepublicau party desired, but wo have a 
faction who kept themselves in power for pur- 
poses of personal gain only, entirely regardless 
of the interest of either race or even tlie ])artv 
whoso name they disgrace and use as a cloak 
to cover fraud and corruption. As a goo<l 
citizen I accei>t the changes in the organic law 
and those m.odo by Congress in conformity 
thereto, and so far as these centralize the power 
of tho Federal Ciovemment, I accejjt them 
with regret: but while conforming fully to their 
changes and accepting the hard conditions 
which they enforce in the South. I also desire 
to reap the advantages for the South wliich 
centralization implies, and I invoke, therefore, 
the representatives of the white race in Con- 
gress to give us here, in South Carolina, a gov- 
ernment worthy of the race and one where a 
New Ent,land man may send his eon to settle 
without degradation. 

The citizen owes allegiance to the govern- 
ment; the government owes protection to the 
people. Any form or practice which fails in 
these mutual conditions cannot be considered 
as a government of the people, and. therefore, 
not a Jicpublican form of government. I>o you 
suppose that the white people of the United 
States intended to fix a pei-petual government 
of fraud on their race as a condition of safety 
to colored freedmen ? 

The duties and rights that grow out of gov- 
ernments and people are reciprocal. If tho 
citizen makes war on the government, it is 
treason. If the government violater< the trust, 
it abilicates its power. And I can hardly be- 
hove that Congress will ai<l in fixing an evil on 
the people of this State, liy any refinement of 
State rights or abstract construction of the or- 
ganic law. to aid a government in which it is 
acknowledged that invention seems to be ex- 
hausted in contriving abuses. Precedents can- 
not be relied upon to guide us, because history 
does not furnish a parallel to the power anil 
efTroutery of the present nilo existing without 
restraint in this devoted State. 

THE WORK BEFORE CS. 

Let us, therefore, join hands with even,- "ood 
and true man of any party, and of any clans. 
The State is the common heritage of all. and 
let us work together to save it from robberv- 
and disgrace. Let us give full and free coun- 
sel and supi>ort to such members of the Legis- 
lature, ami the ofWcinls of the State and comity 
governments, as like ourselves desire to rein- 



10 



state an honest admiuiatration of our affairs. 
Let us, while holding bur reepective political 
views and as meinberH of our own political or- 
ganisms, hold them all in abeyance to the great 
end of all political purposes, viz., an honest 
government and a code of laws equally for the 
pi'otectiou of the property and persona of 
evei-y kind and shade of opinion or lawful in- 
terest. 

To this end, let us organize in every county 
on this basis to guard the public purse, and to 
deal with fraud and misrule by energetic pros- 
ecutions and exposures of fraud and coiTup- 
tion, and let us give a ready and efhcient sup- 
port to every reform which the llepublican 
party or the Legislature shall originate. 

At the battle of Waterloo it is well known 
that the fortunes of the day were clearly 
against the English till Blucher came to the re- 
lief of Wellington, and threw the balance in his 
favor at the latter part of the conflict. A 
desponding officer, whose command had not 
been engaged during the whole battle, but 
was rather preparing for a retreat under the 
demoralizing influences around it, was sudden- 
ly ordered by Wellington in person: "Come, 
sir, get your troops m motion." The timid of- 
ficer, counselled by his fears, hesitatingly asked, 
"Which way?" Wellington, with justitiable in- 
dignation and a pardonable irreverence, roared 
out, '•Forward, b;j God!"' Audi would say 
to every Carolinian, to-day, who takes counsel 
from his fears, but with reverence towards the 
just centre of all good government, and His 
providence towards them that help themselves, 
"Forward, by God. 

THE FIXASCES. 

I have already furnished the fullest evidence 
of the conuption, ignorance and oppressive 
nature of the rule and its personnel in this State, 
as cited from the speeches, reports or other 
written evidence of leading and respected Re 
publicans, most of them now connected with 
the active government which they so honestly 
denounce as disgracing their own party as well 
the age i?i which they live. I now propose to 
show by the same authority the pi'actical work- 
ing of such a form of government, and you 
can then judge if these fruits are the products 
contemplated by the advocates of a llepubli- 
can government, which the constitution guar- 
antees to every State in the Union. It ap- 
pears by a report of a joint special investi- 
gating committee of the Legislature, dated, 
December 20, 1871, page 808, that, becoming 
alarmed at the ''ijrvat dlscrej'iancieft existing be- 
tiveen the Stale treasurers, coiiqitrollvr-fjeneraVs 
andjinnncial agrnCs printed reports," they de- 
termined to go to New York and overhaul Mr. 
Kimptou's books. Mr. Kimpton requested 
time to go out of the city and ruralize for the 
benefit of his overtaxed energies during the 
past three years in behalf of the financial in- 
terests of the State, which remedy and relax- 
ation his physician had prescribed against the 
fatal effectsof his impaired constitution and 
ruined health. The ^'coimniltee hoI wishing the 
responsihililij of the death of any ote resting on 
ihem," (to use their own words,) consented, 
hut when the term of recreation had expired, 
"Mr. Kimpton thereupon stated that soon af- 
ter j'our committee had accorded him time, for 
the recreation ho had previously asked for, the 
^uancial board requested his preseuco in Co- 



lumbia. * * * * Your committee not 
wanting to oppress him, granted him still fur- 
ther time." 

After this the report sets forth the difficulty 
of making the examination, and their industry 
in occupying their time in acquiring informa- 
tion, and "state the startling fact that, owing to 
the manner of borrowing money by Kimpton, 
in small amounts and for short time, with the 
frecjuency of the renewals and large commis- 
sions on each transaction, the interest, com- 
missions and stamps paid, on short loans made 
in Nein York atnounled to nearly as much as 
the entire interest on the State debt," and that 
there must accrue a large commission account 
in favor of Kimpton, whose services of com'se 
must be paid for. 

In a subsequent report of this financial inves- 
tigating committee to the Legislature, they set 
forth that it had been given out to the public 
that '■out of the ahundatice of carefulness for 
the interest of the Slate, on the part of the Gov- 
ernor," the financial agent had been compelled, 
to make an instrument in writing, with good 
and sufficient security, for the faithful dis- 
charge of his duties and the security of the 
State, in the penal sum of a large amount, and 
that one of the most prominent and skilful 
banking firms in the country had signed his 
bond, viz : Henry CUews & Co. The bond, 
however, was signed by Kimpton, and the rich 
firm signed as a witness. The indignant com- 
mittee therefore remarks: "But it will be 
seen, by a copy of the bond he executed, that 
the State has no security, and that her agent 
commenced his official life under the counte- 
nance and connivance of the financial board, 
with deception covering his stexw and irrespon- 
sibility his acts." (Page 42, second part.) 

This committee, after giving a gi'eat array of 
figures, which they find in the agent's books, 
informing us that they aie full of discrepan- 
cies, as compared with his previous reports 
and the books of the treasurer; among other 
items showing that he charges for expenses in 
excess of vouchers or former reports, the 
large item of ¥243,980 58, (page 245, 2d part.) 
remarks: "The committee are compelled to 
say that the financial agent has acknowledged 
to them the incorrectness of his accounts, and 
admitted that he was directed, by the financial 
board, not to make real, but fictitious, entries. 
So frightfully large were the expenses of the 
transactions of the agency in negotiations of 
loans, Ac, the board thought it best to keep 
the true amount in disguise;" and part of the 
<tc., appears to be the land commissioners' 
fluids, 'which were passed through his books, 
although the treasurer paid in Columbia the 
bills, so that fictitious sums were entered in 
his books, as the treasurer advised, from time 
to time, in the fraudulent operations connect- 
ed with that transaction, amounting to over 
m700,000. said to be paid for lands not worth 
over $100,000 to-day. 

The committee very judiciously remark fur- 
ther: "Beside this admission of the agent, the 
manner in which his books and accounts have 
been kept justifies suspicion of their accu- 
racy." * * * * What, however, is our as- 
tonishment and indignation when we are told, 
on finding specific charges, that they are not 
correct; that even detail in payments is no 
assurance of accuracy ! And what our hu- 
miliation, when we are told that the financial 



11 



board of tbo State havo roniininMiclf-d tiic oov- 
eriiig up and withli'ildiiifr of t lie real liiihiuoHM 
trauHactioue of tlie agency ! 

TUK KU-KI-UX. 

Su mucii for tho character of thin financial 
board anJ ilH itgent'M caiiacjly aH a bookkeeper 
and negotiator. Let nn ciinueni]>latc tlio cele- 
brated Kun contract pa^'o U 17 -looking back 
to the histoiy of the Kii-Kliix diHtiirbancos 
which disgraced our Stiite, originatiiiK. an they 
did, from tho htupiil and jiartiMan action of the 
8tato governiuent, wIiobo appointmentu of 
ignorant and corrupt trial juHticcR and consta- 
biee, and even tliin Bourco of protection of the 
rights of property fo HjjarHely throughout the 
State that maramling j>HrticM were often able 
to drive awiiy a farmer'n cattle, liogH and hoi"HOH 
before a proper otiicial could be found to utop 
the robber. becauHe a constable and trial jus- 
tice were often twenty miles a]>art; and such 
was the corruption on one hand, or the prej- 
udice of race on the other, that freipiently a 
colored jjrlsoner after arroist and i)roof of his 
guilt by white men would bo discharged on his 
own testimony to the contrary, and in a few 
days the poor follow who had lost his property 
■would be arrested for false imprisonment, and 
subjected to inconvenience ana expense. This 
outrage against justice produced, at first, or- 
ganisms for mutual protection on tho ])art of 
the white men in tho disturbed districts, and 
as usual when men undertake to vindicate even 
their acknowledged rights, and civil law can- 
not bo relied upon, such organisms are apt to 
degenerate into violence and injustice, pro- 
ducing revolution or brigandage, according to 
relative numbers, intelligence or morality par- 
ticipating iu it. 

In the case under discussion the Kn-Klux 
appears to have been mainly a body of igno- 
rant men, as devoid of justice as they were of 
judgment iu applying the remedy for which, 
no aoubt, they were induced to organize, and 
bad they dealt with the white persons that or- 
ganized the frauds and violence of which they 
justly complained and made an example in 
high quarters in Columbia, instead of descend- 
ing to outrage and abuses of the colored men, 
the ignorant instruments of these public j'ob- 
bers. much more sympathy might have been 
felt for them, and the government, iu my judg- 
ment, would iiave sooner exercised its clem- 
ency in consideration of the provocation. 

THE ARMS FR.\UD. 

But. be this as it may, this Ku-Klux organism, 
apart from their outrages on the good order 
and the fair name of tJie State, were also the 
cause of a heavy fraud on the same. Joint 
resolutions were iiaH-ed by the T^egislature in 
1869, empowering the (lovemor to employ an 
armed force of one huudred men for the pres- 
ervation of the jJCace, and to piirrh/tsr tiro 
lliiniaand stawLf uf amvi of the idoM approved 
I'lern, provvU-d that a i»TvireattU' and sadsfac- 
/•'/ anil cannot t)e prncnred from tfie United 
elates." In the graphic words and classic allu- 
eions of the committee, which I continue to 
quote, I page 2JH, ) "The Governor's (Scott) 
hrst lieutenant, the atljutant-general. (Moses,) 
■was regarded as the j>ropor and best ambassa- 
dor for the State in this emergency. He came 
to Washington, he sa>D the secretary, he con- 



iptrred all objections, doubts, contingencies' 
obstacles." 

The Becrotar\- telograi^jod. von can liavc ten 
thousand stanils of Snringfield rauskotH. The 
mission of the gfneral wana succeHs, and Soutli 
Carolina j>rocured a serviceable arm from tho 
United States, sntticient to equipan army of ten 
thousand men. There was, therefore, no nee<l 
of the exercise of tho authority of March IfUh, 
ISC'J; in fact, tho authority was nulli- 
fiodby the generous munificent grant of the 
national government, "and our young Cusar, 
like his great Itoman prototype, had 
his triumjih on his retiini to Columbia. 
lUit this ruthless committee, like another 
Cassius, seems disposed to question hia 
financial capacity and liis honesty; occupying 
ten pages of their report show tlie most un- 
blushing and enormous frauds in imrchaHing 
arms and altering them, not only without au- 
thority of law, but by a division of the plun- 
der with various agents, wliich far outstrips 
the ingenuity of tho New York ring in cheat- 
ing the jniblic trcasurj- and dividing the pro- 
ceeds with their fncnils. By which it ajipears 
that the (iovernor. without warrant of law, em- 
powered his adjutant-gencsah Moses ito proceed 
to the North and purchase one thousand Win- 
chester rifies, with ammunition, Ac, for which 
he paid ¥38, 781)— less tho largo commissions 
which all these contracts afforded tho agents — 
and also contracted with certain parties there 
to alter the guns to breech-loaders, which the 
United States had given the State in perfect 
order, rea<ly for use, which alteration costing 
the State 8105,000, or .*1() 5G per gun— a price 
greater (the committee informs us) than a per- 
fect and new arm could be purchased for of the 
same kind in every particular from the veri- per- 
sons that made the alteration, and to bo deliv- 
ered fresh from their salesrooms in Broadway, 
New York. But it appears by this same report 
that 5^40.000 was retunied as commissions 
to one of these zealous patriots for arm- 
ing the State, and, we aie further informed 
by the same committee, that ouo of the 
contracting parties only received fifty cents 
per gun, instead of the contract price for the 
alterations. -rS 35 ])er gun. which large dis- 
count they had to make or get nothing, as they 
informed the committee. But it further ap- 
pears that the agent was less grasping in an- 
other case, as he only exacted a discount of 
two dollars per gun for his services in procuring 
these valuable contracts. The report does not 
advise us how tliis fund thus stolen from the 
State was divided, except as shown by the latter 
portion of the following quotation, which seems 
also to concentrate the fraud : "But did these 
charges consume the wholo amount charged on 
the books of tho financial agent to the 'arms 
account,' which was 8'202,r.(f2 Ct; ■• Not at all; 
the whole amount paid the Roberts .\rms Com- 
jiany. Providence Tool Company, Bemington 
Arms Company, and tho American Metallic 
Ammunition Compa:iy. was, in the aggregate, 
not over .*lUfi.250, so that there remains yet to 
be accounted for ■*7f),872 CO, less 81,088 paid 
iiiHurauco, which has lieen paid by the finan- 
cial agent to C. II. Bond, tho only person, \\\\- 
loss we except tho assurances of tho financial 
agent and his confiilcntial clerk, viz : that 820,- 
000 of this amount was paid to N. C. Parker, 
then treasurer of the State. • • " To say 
that the Governor (.Scott) or the adjutant-gen- 



12 



eral (]Mose.si could have known notbinp; of 
these iufamoUH robberies is no longer posBil^le. 
The Governor in alone the authority, on the 
part of the State, to make such a contract, and 
he gave that authority, with general instruc- 
tions, to the adjutant-general (Moses.) * * 
* No such transaction could have transpired 
without such sums, in thousands, have Ijeen 
paid even by the huaucial agent, without the 
instructions or directions of the (lovernor or 
the financial board." 

If this is not high authority against Govern- 
or Moses, Mr. Kimptou and the financial board, 
where can better be found ? This report is 
from a most reliable source as to intelligence, 
iudustiy, and zealous supporters of the gov- 
ernment, whose gross dishonesty fills them 
with dismay, and against which they most re- 
luctantly testify. 

FURNISHING TUE STATEHODSE. 

I find in this connection, in this same report 
to the Leglislature, that Mr. Woodbury, a mer- 
chant of New York and the treasurer of one of 
the arms companies above referred to, testified 
that F. J. Moses, Jr., adjutant-general of the 
State, and now the Governor, made contracts 
for altering the guns for .¥41,250 with the 
KobertsArms Company, and when Mr. Wood- 
huiy was asked how much the company re- 
ceived in payment, replied but •*2.50U, and an- 
other contract for cartridges to the amount of 
$37,000, in another company, and received for 
the same but >r21,G27. Yet these companies 
were requested to give receipts for the full 
amount, viz: •'«81,400, on pain of not being paid 
at all. These frauds fully account for the pov- 
ertj' of the taxpayers, and the large accumula- 
tious or the profligate expenditures of the 
men who rule the State, and the conviction of 
such criminals ought not to tax very heavily 
the professional skill of our learned' judiciary 
with proofs largely documentaiy, and coming 
from official som-ces so direct and respect- 
able, and whose political sympathy is entirely 
with the party in power. Furnisliing the State- 
house, in which the most glaring frauds were 
exposed before a congressional committee, has 
been already ventilated, but it may not be 
known that there was charged an item of two 
hundred line porcelain spittoons at eight dollars 
apiece, for one hundred and twenty-tour mem- 
bers, most of whom used the fioor or spat out 
of the window, or into the fire. 

The actual bill, at extravagant prices, was 
$50,000, but the bill presented to the Legisla- 
ture was raised to ^9.5,000. A committee was 
constituted to investigate the matter, and their 
expenses reached the modest sum of over •$60,- 
000, $7,. 500 of which was charged for lawyer's 
fees and services, but the lawyer credited with 
this large fee came forward and denied that he 
had ever received a cent of the inoney, and 
had never (he said) even been consulted in the 
case. The attorney-general was instructed to 
take steps to indict the member for embezzling 
the public money. The culprit came before 
the investigating committee, and told them that 
he did not intend to answer any questions that 
would criminate himself, and when he was 
threatened with indictment, ho defied them, 
and said that they did not dare to do it; that 
they would first have to make an application 
to enlarge the penitentiary, for he would have 
half of them in there. One of the investiga- 



ting committee of Congress, on hearing this 
teslim(:>ny. asked the witness. What, did he 
mean half of the Legislature .' Answer: The 
whole concern connected with the government, 
I suppose. 

We are informed that these bills were paid, 
and that the excess of Wilton and Brussels 
carpets, mirrors, sofas and other articles oi" 
furniture charged to the Statehouse were 
really used for the private lodgings of the 
members or in their own houses — exactly the 
same kind of fraud for which Genet was con- 
victed in New York who used building mate- 
rials in his own houses, which the city had jjtir- 
chased for a coiu'thouse. Can we not follow 
this example, and have this braggart robber 
convicted, and have our penitentiaiy en- 
larged for the accommodation of such other 
members of the Legislature and government 
whose frauds and corruption we so patiently 
endure ? I have thus adduced a few examples 
of the practical frauds of the State govern- 
ment as certified to by official reports. I have 
purposely confined myself to these examples 
as they sufficiently illustrate the morals and 
])ractice of the government and the Legislature 
of the State, wlio being in overwhelming ma- 
jority, practically ignore the honest minority of 
both parties in the Legislature: disregarding 
the principles of common honesty and of com- 
mon decency, their affroutery has become pro- 
verbial, and we are practically askedby their con- 
tempt for us, "What will you do about it?" Crews 
and Tweed are representative men in Colum- 
bia and New York, and the question is, have we 
a committee of seventy among us, and have 
we an earnest lawyer like Charles O'Connor, 
and an astute investigator like Samuel Tilden. 
and have we an independent, self-sacrificing 
and brave body of citizens in every county in 
the State who will do as the honest and earnest 
men of New York did — band together, regard- 
less of ail differences, polical or otherwise, and 
determine to drive these thieves out of power 
and out of the State, or into the penitentiary ? 

PUBLIC .JUSTICE. 

Jefferson has well said that the price of lib- 
erty is eternal vigilance, and we must now veri- 
fy the practical nature of the expression. I 
have confidence that we have every one of 
these qualifications among our people, and 
that the exercise of them will save the State. 
I am not insensible to the prevailing opinion 
that the j udges are corrupt and the juries ig- 
norant and prejudiced. The open charges of 
corruption made in the Legislature of the 
State against the judges of the highest court, 
and the frequent interference of the Legislattu^e 
with the independent discharge of the functions 
of the individual judges, are well calculated to 
overthrow confidence in their honesty, and ut- 
terly to destroy that judicial independence and 
confidence so necessary for the ends of jus- 
tice. But this ])hase of our public grievances 
must be accepted as one of the unfortunate 
elements which calls for revision: and yet 
there are individual exceptions, both as to 
judges and juiies, which can be relied upon for 
public justice in the State, and before whom 
convictions for fraud and corruption can bo 
had if properly and zealously brought before 
them. Take the most corrupt of these men 
and place him on the bench, in presence of a 
court filled with men of probity and position. 



13 



put the |>Iuntlci'Gr in the criminal bos. I<^t <lir4- 
tiiiRainlu'<l moinbei-H of tho bar prove by cuni- 
poteiit witiiPCHCH tlio nlic'j^ed criiuoM, and tho 
judge will bo an cxtraordiiiarj" man wlio will 
d&ro to outrage jniblic juMtico by Hiding with 
the criminal. We have had a .lelTrioH in Eng- 
land whoHo dcciMiouM dJHgraced liiH judicial ac- 
tion, but ho criminated the innocent to norv*- 
the government, and gooH down execrated by 
poHterity an a ningular cane, a moiiHtor of in- 
iijuity; but wo have no record uf any judge 
o/x-d'y defying public jnntice Viy diHcharging 
criminalM in the intercut of government. TheBO 
acts of corruption on the part of jiidgeM are 
conlined to focrct j^ractico when the i)ublic 
eye is not on them, and juricH too are not in- 
£enuible of public watchf uluena in wuch cases. 

THE STATE DEBT. 

It ia impostsiblo to CBlimate the State debt, 
the falsitied otMcial Htatementn which have 
tfo frequently misled the jiublic. Each one ex- 
posing the discrepancy of the other, have com- 
jdetely defied investigation: we only know that 
i)Ouds, certificates of indebtedness and other 
forms of State obligations have been issued 
not only in most cases without fomi of laxv, 
but without the least attempt to hmit theiiuan- 
tity or eveu to keep auy exact record of the 
issues. The Hon. D. T. ('orbin, United States 
district attorney, and (as I have already meu- 
tioned) a leading Republican State senator, m 
his able speech favoring the re-electiou of Geu. 
Grant to the presidency. July 4. 1872, was con- 
straiued. in referring to State politics, with hon- 
est indignation, to denounce the frauds of the 
officials, even while, as he remarked some of 
them were his personal friends. He there in- 
forms us, "That under Gov. On-, (the Qret 
Governor after the reconstruction, Hhe bonded 
debt amounted to «5,500,l)00, and a floating 
debt of -il. ,500, 00(1 more, and now, in the short 
period of four vears we fmd the State burden- 
ed with a bonded debt of about > 10,000.000, 
and a floating debt of two or three millions 
more." 

After a clear and detailed account of the 
origin and purpose of each act of the Legisla- 
ture authorizing the issue of bonds, he says : 
'•The amount authorized by tho Legislature, 
as already showu you, is *4. 389. 400: substract 
this amount from the actual increase of the 
debt ( 10,000. 000. 1 and you will find that, with- 
out the authority of law. there has been 
added to tlio State" debt over .*5.500.000." He 
further informs us that, "Probably one of the 
most startling facts in connection with this 
brief financial statement, is that our financial 
board have permitted to be soM ujion tho mar- 
ket ••5'10.,"ji)0,000 of bonds for about .*2.38'2,000. 
* * * iJut, in looking through all those 
various approjiriation acts, you will find by 
compeering thciu with the expenditures subse- 
quently made, that the State oflicers have been 
governed by no law in tho expenditure of 
money. • • • They have spout your money 
lawleisly, wastefully and. in my judgment, 
criminally." Mr. C'orbin. after showing the 
frauds connected with tho land commisflion, 
in which he demonstrates that but $500,000 
were actually paiil for the land even after 
covering the immense frauds in the price 
to be paid by collusion, aa shown by the 
deeds of i)urcha«eH, he says : "Now, if you 
will look into Treasurer's Parker's report of 



the moneys paid out on behalf of the land 
commission, you will find he charges to the 
State about •rT.'jO.CMH) in ca«h." leaving un- 
accountod for a quarter of a million of dollars. 
He gives us one example of the details of 
these piirchaMes by the a4Nphsition of a tract of 
land called "Hell-Hole Swamp:" a suggoHtivo 
name for a pliu-o of burial of tho laud commis- 
sion as tho ('avo of Marpaloh is suggestive 
of the good i)atriarch of the old dispensation. 
Ho says : "These lands, constituting tho 
swamps and forests about it. |)urcha«cd for 
•i-ljn.OOli. • ♦ ♦ Now. I learn from reliable 
sources that the money actually paiil for this 
tract was about ■■j3u,00()." leaving some one or 
all of the gjntlomen of the aiivisory board 
and laud commission to net the haudaomo sum 
of *90,000. 

THE SIXKIXO KUND. 

After treating of the sinking fund fraud and 
that of the Blue Kidge Kailroad and other 
frauds amounting to millions of dollars, he 
turns to the oflicial conduct of tho present fiov- 
ernor. while filling the double oflices of adju- 
tant-general and speaker of the House of llep- 
reseutatives of the State, accusing him of 
having reported an expenditure of rllO.oOO for 
services in enrolling the militia, while, in most 
instances, these organizations had been efTectod 
through private enteqjrise, and, therefore, 
without expense to the State. That no one 
knows of any of the labor done, and no oflicial 
report even confirms his proper official apj)lica- 
tion of tho money, he further informs ua 
that as speaker of the House of P>epro8euta- 
tives it became his duty to issue imycertitiLates 
to defray the salaries of the members and con- 
tingent expenses, which he gives in detail as 
amounting to but .*143,808 iu the aggregate. 
He says : "Now, fellow-citizens, tho number 
and amount of pay certificates, i ma « . & by 
Mr. M jses. I am credibly informed, exceeds the 
sum of one million dollars.'' Surely here are 
cases for criminal prosecution, and evidence of 
the most tangible and respectable character. 
Republican judges and juries will not dispute 
llejiublican witnesses. 

The report of the Senate Investigating Com- 
mittee in the sinking fund fraud is now before 
the Legislature. The president of that board, 
ex-Gov. Scott, refuses to attou'l the commit- 
tee, "declaring he would be bothered with no 
more investigations: "two other prominent mem- 
bers decline to appear on the technical groiuid 
that the committee, having been api)ointed by 
the .Senate only, had no i)ower to compel their 
attendance. The committee, however, report 
that property which cost the State nearly 
iJ2. 000,000 was disposed of for .■i'123.000, and 
that even this sum has been so manijiulated 
l>y tho New York financial agent by various 
speculative operations for himself and the 
members of the board, as to bo entirely lost to 
tho State. They close their report as follows: 
"It is apparent from what tho committee has 
stated that the proceedings of the sinking 
fund commission since the time of its apptiint- 
mcnt, have resulted in nothing but loss to the 
State: that the commissioners of the sinking 
fund have sold a large amount of iiroperty be- 
longing to tho State for the purpose- of extin- 
guishing the public debt, ami have not extin- 
guished the public debt to the amount of a 
single dollar. " I cannot delay you with a full 



iU.Utt 



u 



review of this fraud. The management of 
it by the report Bhows that the pro- 
ertv was principally Hold to agents 
of the prominent members of the commission 
themselves, privately, the day after the 
passage of the act authorizing them to sell the 
property and constituting them the trustees of 
the same: 13,100 shares, which controlled the 
franchise of the companv. of the Blue lUdge 
Eailroad, which cost the State $1,310,000 was 
sold for one dollar a share, or .$13,100 to a Mr. 
Moore, who testifies to the committee as fol- 
lows : "I bought for myself and others, to wit, 
Mr. Kimpton, (New York financial agent,) Gov. 
Scott, Mr. Waterman. (Gov. Scott's brother- 
in-law,) John J. Patterson, (present United 
States senator,) Timothy Hurley, Jos. Crews, 
Dr. Neagle, the comptroller-general. Mr. Par- 
ker, State treasurer, and three or four others, 
whose names I do not now recall. I think Les- 
lie, State senator, was one of them. * * * 
I think Mr. Chamberlain, attorney-general, 
was one of the parties for whom I have men- 
tioned I have bought the stock. That is to say 
the three leading commissioners, who sold the 
stock under those questionable circumstances, 
were themselves parties to the purchase." 
And this operation has also cost the State mil- 
lions in addition in the way of fraudulent 
issues of scrip for bogus indebtedness assumed 
by the Legislature. 

EAILROAD FRAUDS. 

The Greenville and Columbia Railroad 
stock was disposed of in the same 
manner, and with the stock passed the 
franchise and management in the same 
manner and degree as in the former case. 
The sale was made the day after the 
bill was passed authorizing it, with no one 
permitted to compete. Mr. Moore again appears 
to be-the pm-chasing agent f or the ofticiafs, who 
informs the committee that Mr. Kimpton, the 
linaucial agent, was indebted to him on pre- 
vious accounts, and for that reason I was in- 
duced to go into the purchase. I did not put 
in any ready money at the time of this pur- 
chase. I Ijeheve the purchase money was 
raised by the sale of the bonds of the State. 
The sale of the bonds were made bv Mr. Kimp- 
ton, so he informs me. I understand the bonds 
he sold were some of those he held as financial 
agent of the State." This statement ia fully 
corroborated by Kimpton's receipt and Mr. 
Guhck's statement to the committee. 

The effect of this transfer in fraud of the 



State, resulted in a greater fraud against the 
other stockholders of the company, who have 
for some time been engaged in contesting, I 
think, over a million of dollars of indebted- 
ness, which these now have fraudulently issued 
for their own private purposes. 

CONCLUSION. 

These statements, verified as they are 
by official reports, are yet but meagre 
representations of the variety and mag- 
nitude of the frauds which these State 
ofticials are connected with to arouse 
the indignation of even more stolid tax- 
payers than we have been. I have often 
thought that the stupendous n«,ture of them 
and their cool effrontery had measurably para- 
lyzed our indignation Many yeai's agoa very 
erasible farmer in one of our Western States, 
who was celebrated for his eloquent but irreve- 
rent use of language when he was excited, was 
seen driving his wagon into town with what 
had been a load of shelled corn, but which had 
nearly all escaped through a hole whijh some 
miscliievous person had bored in the bottom. 
Tlie villagers, seeing that the farmer had not 
yet discovered that a long train of the shelled 
com had marked the line of his wagon track, 
and expecting a rich treat when he should diB- 
cover his loss, in the explosion of his wrathful 
profanity, followed him to the store-door, at 
which, to his surpise, he first observed the loss 
of his corn and the eager crowd which sm'- 
rouuded him. Sensible of his situation, and 
fully comprehending what was expected of 
him, he mounted on the wagon seat and said, 
with bated breath. "Gentlemen, I can't do jus- 
tice to the occasion." 

Gentlemen of the convention, with many 
thanks for your courtesy and patience in listen- 
ing to my rather extended rem.arks, I close by 
reading the form of a proposed memorial to 
the Congress of the United States, which I 
shall ask you to refer to the proper committee, 
hoping for its favorable consideration by the 
committee and its adoption by the convention; 
and after being signed by the officers and mem- 
bers of this convention, and the other taxpay- 
ers in the different counties of the State, to bo 
forwarded to Congress for presentation by a 
formal committee of this body, who shall be 
charged also with the duty of presenting our 
grievances to the President of the United 
States, and asking his official sympathy and co- 
operation against the frauds and misriiJe which 
deprives us of the rights of American citizens. 



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